Hideo Kojima: Progressive Game Design from Metal Gear to Death Stranding

Influential Video Game Designers

by Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, Carly A. Kocurek (Series Editor), Jennifer deWinter (Series Editor)

An exploration of the influential work of Hideo Kojima, creator of cinematic titles such as the blockbuster Metal Gear Solid franchise, which has moved over 50 million units globally, as well as Snatcher , Policenauts , and Death Stranding . As the architect of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Kojima is synonymous with the “stealth game” genre, where tension and excitement is created from players avoiding enemies rather than confronting them. Through the franchise, Kojima also helped to bridge the gap between games and other forms of media, arguing that games could be deep experiences that unearthed complex emotions from players on the same level as films or novels. Drawing on archives of interviews in English and Japanese with Kojima and his team, as well as academic discourses of social/political games and cinematic narrative/world-building, this book examines Kojima's progressive game design as it applies to four key socially-relevant narratives, cinematic aesthetics, thematically-connected systems, and reflexive spaces.

236 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Bryan Hikari Hartzheim is Assistant Professor in the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, where he teaches courses on digital media, games, and animation, with a focus on the Japanese media industries. His work has appeared in The Journal of Popular Culture, Mediascape, and the edited anthology Video Games in East Asia (Palgrave, 2017). He is currently working on a book on the game design of Hideo Kojima.

Reviews

[Nick H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of strong examinations that delve deeper than expected from games writing. This was a real breath of fresh air, where you could tell that the author knew Kojima’s work well, but was also generally well-read, and (possibly most importantly?) able to keep a level head without turning into a raving fan. I love Kojima’s work, and was pleased to see how well-laid-out this book was, with each game and era broken up by their overarching through-lines. It’s also nice to see someone writing about Kojima who can confidently speak about the Japanese-only content which makes up so much of his work and the media surrounding it.

色んないい考え、本当に表面より深くから小島とゲーム検査する。色んなゲームについての本とか文章とかはそんなにアカデミックじゃないだからこれはスッキリだった。メタルギアと小島の大ファンだからこれはすごくよかった、各章はよくオーガナイズして全てのゲームとコンセプトは自分のフォーカスある

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

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